Night + Market: Delicious Thai Food to Facilitate Drinking and Fun-Having Amongst Friends A Cookbook - Hardcover

Yenbamroong, Kris; Snyder, Garrett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0451497872 ISBN 13: 9780451497871

Publisher: Clarkson Potter, 2017

Synopsis

If you love to eat Thai food, but don’t know how to cook it, Kris Yenbamroong wants to solve your problems. His brash style of spicy, sharp Thai party food is created, in part, by stripping down traditional recipes to wring maximum flavor out of minimum hassle. Whether it’s a scorching hot crispy rice salad, lush coconut curries, or a wok-seared pad Thai, it’s all about demystifying the universe of Thai flavors to make them work in your life.
 
Kris is the chef of Night + Market, and this cookbook is the story of his journey from the Thai-American restaurant classics he grew eating at his family’s restaurant, to the rural cooking of Northern Thailand he fell for traveling the countryside. But it’s also a story about how he came to question what authenticity really means, and how his passion for grilled meats, fried chicken, tacos, sushi, wine and good living morphed into an L.A. Thai restaurant with a style all its own.

About this title

About the Author

KRIS YENBAMROONG has been featured in every major food publication, from Bon Appétit to Food & Wine to the New York Times, and was a James Beard Award semifinalist. He also has ties to the fashion and art worlds: he worked for photographer Richard Kern; he has appeared in ads for J Crew and in magazines like Details and Esquire and on Vice.com. His restaurant group, Night + Market, is arguably the most talked about, lauded, and nationally recognized restaurant in Los Angeles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

DRUNKEN NOODLE PASTRAMI PAD KEE MAO 
Serves 1 or 2 

I don’t think anyone quite knows where the name for “drunken noodles” originated. Pad means “to stir-fry” and kee mao is a great Thai phrase that means “someone who is prone to drunkenness,” i.e., your uncle who usually shows up to the family reunion three whiskeys deep. Are they called drunken noodles because they’re meant to feed people stumbling out of bars at night, or because some Thai cooks add a glug of Chinese cooking wine? I’m not entirely sure. 
 
What I do know is that we sell a ton of pad kee mao at Night + Market, especially to the late-night crowd. This dish is not as iconic as pad see ew or pad Thai, but it does have many of the aspects people love about Thai food: It’s spicy, fragrant, and carb-heavy enough to function as a post-drinking meal. At the restaurant we sometimes toss the noodles with short rib that’s been pressure-cooked with soy sauce and aromatics until tender, but if you have leftover steak or roast beef on hand, then by all means slice that up and throw it in the wok. 
 
This version, though, is my favorite. It’s the result of an experiment inspired by the kung pao pastrami Danny Bowien serves at Mission Chinese. It involves going to the nearest deli counter and having them slice the pastrami extra thick (¼ inch), then tossing it into the wok at home. Something about the combination of salty deli meats and drunken noodles makes perfect sense. 
 
3 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 tablespoon Prik Tum (pg 308), or ½ teaspoon each minced fresh bird’s eye chiles and garlic 
¼ large red bell pepper, cut into strips 
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and cut into strips 
8 ounces fresh wide rice noodles (chow fun), separated into strands (see Note pg. 39) 
1 tablespoon sugar 
2 tablespoons Stir-Fry Sauce (pg. 306)
6 ounces sliced pastrami (¼ inch thick), cut into 1 × 2-inch ribbons 
Fish sauce 
Handful of Thai basil leaves 
Ground white pepper 
Crispy Fried Egg (pg. 244), for topping (optional) 
 
 
1. Heat an empty wok over high heat until it begins to smoke, then swirl in the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the prik tum and stir until it becomes fragrant, just a few seconds. Add the bell pepper and jalapeño and stir-fry until slightly softened, 30 seconds or so. Then quickly add the rice noodles, sugar, and stir-fry sauce, tossing to coat evenly. 

2. Once the noodles have absorbed most of the sauce, add the pastrami and toss again. Stir-fry until the meat is warmed through and the noodles have developed a slight char, then remove from the heat. Add a splash of fish sauce, the basil leaves, and a shake of white pepper and toss again to combine. Top with the fried egg, if desired. 

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarkson Potter
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0451497872
• ISBN 13: 9780451497871
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320